This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-323838, filed Oct. 22, 2001, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector device suitable for the operation testing of circuit units formed on a printed circuit board and to a drive device using the connector device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known in this field, for example, a disk drive device such as a DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disk-Read Only Memory) drive includes a plurality of printed circuit boards having circuit units configured to control a disk motor, optical pickup, and so on, as well as a main circuit unit, etc., configured to control these circuit units in an integrating fashion.
This kind of disk drive device is such that respective external connection connectors are attached to a plurality of built-in printed circuit boards and these connectors are connected together through a connection board such as an FPC (flexible printed circuit) or FFC (flexible flat cable) whereby the respective printed circuit boards are electrically connected to each other.
Incidentally, in the case where an operation test is conducted on the respective circuit units formed on a plurality of printed circuit boards in such a disk drive device, the usual practice is to connect an FPC or FFC for checking to the connector attached to the printed circuit board and to perform operation checking by supplying a power source output, various kinds of checking signals and so on.
In the operation testing method of the above-mentioned circuit units, however, the FPC or FFC for checking is connected to the connectors on the printed circuit board by an inserting operation and, by doing so, the operation testing is conducted. After this, the FPC or FFC is withdrawn from the connector. For this reason, the FPC or FFC for checking needs to be periodically exchanged since the insertion/withdrawing operation is repeatedly done relative to the connectors.
When the FPC or FFC is worn out, the adhesive used on the lining side is partially displaced to the outside and deposited on the contact pins, thus causing a contact failure. Further, the forward end portions of the contact pins are made sharper to some extent to ensure good contact with the FPC or FFC but, if the forward end portions of the contact pins are rounded due to the repeated insertion and withdrawing operations of the FPC or FFC, initial contact stability is impaired.
Further, the FPC or FFC is usually solder-plated at that portion of contacting with its connector. If, therefore, the FPC or FFC is inserted into and withdrawn from the connector, its surface is scraped by the forward ends of the contact pins to produce metal hairs and the metal hairs are left inside the connector. And there are sometimes cases that such metal hairs are spanned between and among a plurality of contact pins to produce short-circuit.
Further, the FPC or FFC is inserted into the connector in a state in which a lock slider provided on the connector side is moved in an unlocking direction and then it is fixed to the connector by moving the lock slider to a locking position. In the method for repeating the inserting and withdrawing of the FPC or FFC into and out of the connector, therefore, the operation of the lock slider is cumbersome and it may also involve breakage.
There is also a method of performing operation testing on circuit units on the printed circuit board without connecting the FPC or FFC for checking to the connector. This method comprises forming testing lands on a printed circuit board which are connected to contact pins of the connector and supplying a power source output, various kinds of testing signals and so on, in a state in which a pin fixture for checking is contacted with the testing lands.
In the method for forming such testing lands on the printed circuit board, however, it is necessary to provide an area for forming a plurality of testing lands on the printed circuit board so that the mounting area of component parts is restricted. Further, since the testing operation is done with the pin fixture set in contact with the testing lands, there arises the problem that it is not possible to detect soldering failure between the terminal of the connector and the circuit patterns on the printed circuit board.
It is accordingly the object of the present invention to provide a connector device and a drive device using the connector device which can easily and highly accurately realize operation testing of circuit units formed on a printed circuit board by solving various problems involved in the connection of an FPC or FFC for checking, the formation of testing lands on a printed circuit board, and so on.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a connector device comprising a connector body and a plurality of connection terminals set in the connector body, having contact sections for testing.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a device comprising a case, a printed circuit board set in the case and a connector device comprising a connector body attached to the printed circuit board and connection terminals, set in the connector body, having a contact section formed for inspection.